The Escapist
by Yana125
Summary: After he had been defeated and left the living world, he didn't feel anything. But now, when he opened his eyes and saw her next to him, he knew he was alive again – ZONE is Yusei, continuation to "Written in Metal" and a nod to "The Rose"


_I read my two 5D's fanfics again and decided to continue them a little. The idea was in my head for a long time, but I didn't feel like writing it yet. Maybe the episode when ZONE's true identity was revealed had this effect on me... Anyway! Be prepared to a sad yet happy story! As always, I don't own anything._

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><p>For a while he felt nothing but he was glad. For those many years there had been nothing in his body and soul, just the unbearable pain he had wanted to get rid of so much. The pain of losing his family, the pain of losing his friends, the pain of losing his love. For many years he had tried to find something worth living for. For his lost family, friends and love, he would fight for those still living. But as the time had passed this fight had started to be meaningless. His winning against the Machine Emperors had been a dream of a fool. He had started to lose hope, he had been defeated by despair.<p>

So he had decided to leave all his feelings behind. He had become an emotionless shell of his former self as his body had turned into a shell of metal too. He had lived for one thing: changing the past. Not for his family, not for his friends, not for his love. Just for the future. But losing all those emotions, both the good and bad had entailed losing his human self, and by this he had made many unforgivable mistakes. He had killed people, his family and his friends' families. He had caused pain and sadness. He had caused everything he had been fighting against.

But then his younger self had defeated him. He had made him realise that by choosing the wrong path he betrayed himself. He had realised his mistakes and had regretted all of them. Then she had made him feel again just by her voice, smile and touch. Just her presence had made him realise how much he had missed all those emotions he had thrown away a long time ago. He had felt so alive again at the moment he had left the living world. And Yusei, who had become ZONE, had left the world as Yusei.

After all those emotional changes this emptiness felt so welcoming. For a while he didn't want to feel anything just this peaceful nothing. He wanted to get ready for the other world. He knew he would get to Heaven. He had made too many horrible things in his life. For one last time he wanted to feel good again before he goes to Hell.

As the time passed by, which he didn't know how much was, he slowly realised he was laying on something. It felt soft and he soon smelled it was grass. The air around him wasn't hot nor was cold. He couldn't tell the temperature, but it felt good. He didn't understand why he was feeling so good. Hell was a place where he should suffer for all those mistakes he had made. Hell should be hot like fire, painful like a bed of sharp needles, not soft and good.

He was so curious so he opened his eyes. The sky above him had a gray shade and when he looked to his left he saw the emerald green grass fading in the distance in this gray colour. It was mist, he thought. Thick and dark mist, but it didn't take away anything from this good feeling he had.

"Good morning."

His eyes widened when he heard this angelic voice. He knew this voice so well. It made him happy, eased him and made him strong. This voice brought light in his darkest times, and this voice made him realise there were something worth living for. He slowly turned his face to the right. He feared that just his imagination was playing tricks with him as his punishment in Hell. But as he looked to his right, all of his worries disappeared.

A woman was laying on her side next to him. She beautiful chocolate-brown eyes, magenta coloured hair and was wearing a snow-white summer dress. Her smile was soft and her eyes were filled with happiness. For a moment he couldn't believe her younger self hadn't lied when she had said she would be here when he wakes up. That beautiful lie became more beautiful as it turned to be true.

"Good morning" he said and turned to his side too. He just stared into her eyes and the beauty hypnotised him. For a minute he forgot who he was and what he had done. All he cared about was that she was here with him and it would be like this forever.

"It took you a while to get here, Yusei" she said with a teasing tone in her voice and she was shoving him one of her smiles that always melt him.

Yusei. Yes, he was Fudo Yusei again. And nothing was better to celebrate this than her saying it. It was a better gift than anything in the world.

"How long have you been waiting for me, Aki?" it was good to say her name. It had the ability to make him feel more alive than when he was still living.

Aki sighed and her smile faded a little. It scared Yusei. What had happed to her while she had been waiting? Maybe she had started to lose hope? He would never want to make her hopeless. He had given her faith so many times in the past, why had he fail this time?

"For many, many years, but actually you had been here earlier than me" she answered finally.

Yusei didn't know what she meant. How could he be here longer than her when he just died?

"How is that possible?" he asked.

Aki moved closer to Yusei.

"After my body died, my soul didn't leave your side. I was always with you when you needed me and I gave you the power to go forward. But as the years passed by you started to forget about me. I was hoping that you would come back, but when I realised that the Yusei I knew was already gone, I came here with so much pain. But then I found you sleeping here in the grass" Aki touched Yusei's face who when felt the warmth of her skin trembled a little. "I knew there was still hope to see your real self again, so I laid down next to you and waited. And I think I made the right choise."

The smile appeared again on her face and Yusei gladly returned it. He moved closer to her too and pulled her into a loving embrace. He had dreamed about this so many times in those painful years and now when he did it his soul danced in happiness. His body shivered as he felt the warmth of her body, as he smelled her skin and hair, as he heard her breathing. It was Paradise.

"I missed you so much…" his voice was weak and hoarse. He pulled her closer to his chest, fearing she would disappear.

"I missed you too" she said and gently kissed his shoulder.

"But I don't deserve to be here with you" before she could say anything, he continued. "I did horrible things. I killed many innocent people and wanted to kill more. I'm not the man you once knew. I'm a monster. My place is in Hell, not in Heaven with you… I…"

But he couldn't continue. His mouth was shut by her soft lips touching his. When she soon pulled away, she looked up at his eyes with a forgiving gaze.

"I know what you did" she started to brush his face with her thumb. "We all know it and we understand why you did those things. You were in despair. You lost everyone you loved and were alone for many decades. You just wanted to make everything back. I forgive you. We all forgive you."

For a long moment he just stared at her with wide eyes then hugged her and buried his face in her hair. He felt tears of joy rolling down his face and he didn't want her to see them even if she knew those were there.

"Thank you…"

"You're welcome…"

_And in the end_

_We lie awake_

_And we dream_

_We'll make an escape_

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><p><em>I decided I didn't care. I reject the fact that ZONE is just a crazy Yusei cosplayer and make my fanon canon in my head XD<em>

_The song is Coldplay's 'The Escapeist'. By this I didn't mean the negative side of escapism. I wanted to show that reality was so horrible and painful that ZONEYusei needed to leave behind and arrived to the afterlife which was heaven for him with Aki waiting for him._

_I don't know if I'll write any ZONEYusei fics in the future. For this universe I want to write at least one fanfic about Jack, and one about Yusei after the series end, then there are some Bleach fics and those many HP fanfics I have to finish and my own novel. I R busy X3_

_P.S.: This was my first story where I wrote a kissing scene O/O (Which wasn't a 'woa-*melt*-so-epic-scene', but still a kissing scene XD)_


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